‎Who Is Hafiz Saeed?

Hafiz Saeed, leader of a Pakistani Islamist group linked to a deadly attack in India in 2008, was put under house arrest by authorities Monday, as outlined in this Wall Street Journal article.

Here’s the short answer on who he is.

Who is Hafiz Saeed?

Mr. Saeed is head of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, an Islamic group proscribed as terrorists by the United Nations but legal in Pakistan. The group campaigns against what it sees as the Indian “occupation” of Kashmir and it has a charity arm that provides emergency aid and other relief services across Pakistan. According to the U.N., New Delhi and Washington, the group is a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba, the jihadist outfit they blame for the 2008 terrorist attack on Mumbai, which killed 166 people.

What happened on Monday?

Mr. Saeed was placed under house arrest in Lahore, provincial capital of Punjab, where he lives. But not before he gave a news conference in which he denounced the arrest as a move to please New Delhi and Washington. His organization was put on a terrorism watch list and Pakistani officials said it activities would be “minimalized.”

Why now?

The Pakistani authorities didn’t explain their action, but an internal government notification pointed to longstanding U.N. sanctions against Mr. Saeed’s organization.

Analysts say it was meant to preempt the new Donald Trump administration, which has taken a tougher line on terrorism, and provide an opening to India to restart stalled peace talks.

Is Pakistan serious this time?

After the Mumbai attack, Mr. Saeed was also put under house arrest, in response to international pressure. But he successfully challenged that in ‎court, which found the Pakistani authorities hadn’t presented sufficient evidence against him. Many analysts expect this move to follow the same pattern. Some experts say that if Pakistan wanted to demonstrate its commitment, it would reinvigorate the case against Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa member who is accused of being the operational mastermind of the Mumbai attack. Mr. Lakhvi, who was released on bail by a Pakistani court in 2015, denies all charges filed against him in a Pakistani court case that has been running for years.